My Journey To Healthy Eating and Goals for 2017

One of my goals for 2017 is to eat healthily. I believe healthy eating can be so beneficial. This is my journey.

I have CFS, of which there are many symptoms that affect me including irritable bowel (sorry TMI). My sleep patterns aren’t good, I either sleep far too much or lie awake half the night. I’ve suffered with spot prone skin since primary school and whilst its currently nowhere near as bad as it once was it’s still a daily problem.

I love my food!! I always have, as my friends and family will confirm. I love eating out and I love to cook. I use food to reward myself and to cheer myself up.

I’ve always been lucky enough to be thin (good genes, thanks mum!) It means I could eat what I like, not exercise, have two children, get to 38 and still fit into size 10 jeans (don’t hate me.) The downside of this is I could convince myself I must be fit and healthy as I was thin. Trust me I am not fit or healthy and I am paying the price for it now.

So, I want to improve my eating habits. Don’t get me wrong they aren’t all bad, I have been flirting with healthy eating for about two years now. I have several health inspired cookbooks which I use and I genuinely enjoy the recipes. I just still treat myself way too often and make too many mistakes.

Last spring I tried the Candida diet. (I’ll explain this in more detail in another post)

Basically, it is a two month long extreme diet that cuts out all sugar and anything that turns to sugar in your body. You can eat chicken, beef, lamb, some fish, non-starchy vegetables, swede, plain probiotic yogurt, coconut products, nuts and seeds plus garlic, herbs and spices.

To my amazement, I completed the diet. It was the hardest most challenging thing I have ever done. I was so proud of myself for achieving it. Thanks to some very inventive recipes the food I ate was enjoyable. There were many challenges such as missing the food I couldn’t have and the side effects of a detox. If I ate out it was a nightmare, at a carvery I ended up with just plain dry turkey, broccoli and cauliflower and still had to pay the full price, that hurt! It was also challenging that everything had to be cooked from scratch, every meal and snack, I spent most of my time in the kitchen.

Once the two months were done I spent another month slowly reintroducing foods such as potatoes, carrots, chick peas and fruit. I kept a diary and found no adverse side effects.

What I noticed almost from day one is that my skin was amazing! So was my hair and my nails. I slept well too and I started to notice some improvement in my CFS towards the end of the 3 months. 

Then I went on holiday. I decided I had done so well I deserved a treat. Six months on I was still treating myself daily and had slipped back into all my bad habits.

It’s such a shame as the diet would have been such a good springboard into healthy eating. Whilst it wasn’t a diet you could maintain it did detox, it changed my eating habits and kicked my sugar addiction. 

I’m not sure I can manage the Candida diet again, not yet anyway. Since new year I have been eating healthy meals at least twice a day and have limited my treats. I’ve decided manageable goals rather than extreme changes may be best for now.

I want to update you on my progress and share recipes and tips. If you don’t want to miss a post then you can subscribe to the blog with your email, enter it into the box which is in the top right hand corner when viewing the web version of this site. Thank you for all the amazing support so far.

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